Wellbeing as Strategy: Reimagining Philanthropic Practice

In this enlightening episode, you’’ll learn how a growing group of funders is thinking about wellbeing – for grantees and themselves. Laura Bacon, strategy lead and facilitator of the Funders and Wellbeing Group, discusses how this new global group of a dozen foundations is working to transform philanthropic culture with regard to wellbeing. Through regular virtual meetings and annual in-person gatherings, the group explores ways to support both individual and organizational wellbeing in the social sector. Their recent retreat in Malaysia highlighted how many nonprofit staff challenges related to wellbeing are universal, from shrinking civic spaces to staff burnout and retention issues.

The conversation emphasizes the critical importance of maintaining focus on wellbeing initiatives during challenging times, particularly in the current political climate where social justice work and the nonprofit sector face significant pressures. Laura advocates for funders to be more flexible and generous in their support, while ensuring that wellbeing remains a priority rather than an optional add-on in grantmaking practices.

Laura shares her journey from musician to social change advocate, and her extensive experience in philanthropy and wellbeing initiatives. As the former founding director of the Partner Support Program at Luminate (an Omidyar foundation), she established wellbeing stipends for grantee organizations, allowing them to address their staff's needs with maximum flexibility. The program distributed about 71 grants totaling $350,000, which organizations used for various purposes from team retreats to mental health support.

Biography:

For more than two decades, Laura Bacon has designed programs and led projects and teams to achieve social impact around the world. She’s currently an independent consultant, partnering with clients on a host of cool initiatives. One of her roles includes Strategy Lead and Facilitator of the Funders + Wellbeing Group at The Wellbeing Project, where she facilitates peer-learning and convenings among a dozen funders to enhance wellbeing for individuals, organizations, sectors, and communities.

Previously, Laura was founding director of the Partner Support program at Luminate, a global philanthropic organization that is part of the Omidyar Group, where she supported over 300 grantee partners to achieve their goals of being more resilient, healthy & inclusive, and well-networked.

Before working at Luminate / Omidyar Network, Laura was a White House Fellow focused on clean energy.

Resources:

• laura.m.bacon@gmail.com

• LinkedIn

• Funders & Wellbeing Group Website

• Wellbeing Project website

• The Wellbeing Project - Global Hearth Summit in Slovenia

• College course: Personal Choice and Global Transformation

• Global Values 101, a book based on the above course, edited by Brian Palmer, Kate Holbrook, Ann S. Kim, Anna Portnoy  

• Rights and Dignity Working Group (piloted Wellness stipends - a cross-Omidyar Group initiative)

• Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice (inspiration for wellness stipends) https://astraeafoundation.org  - Healing Justice stipend

• General Service Foundation (inspiration for wellness stipends): https://generalservice.org/whatwefund/healingjustice/  -

• Fund the People podcast interview with Desiree Flores

• Priya Parker book “The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters”

• Deepa Iyer’s Social Change Ecosystem Role Map

• Prospera, the International Network of Women’s Funders, doing great work on wellbeing

• Laura’s Blog posts on Partner Support, Coaching Stipend, Wellbeing Stipends:

• Luminate & Omidyar Group (philanthropy I worked with for 10+ years)

• * Here's more info about thePartner Support program of which I was the founding director

• Blogs (first andsecond) about Luminate's wellbeing stipend

• Luminate's coaching stipend

• Grantee Perception Reports (2020 and2023)

• Funders & Wellbeing Group

• "FundWell" newsletter about our funders' retreat in Malaysia